2SecondsFaster.com

So, what kind of art would you expect to see at an school for K – 8 grades that cost $17,000 a year?  Wait!  Before you answer that – the school is in Berkley, California.  Now what would you expect to see?  Well, I for one wouldn’t have guessed this:

Symbols of communism and marijuana and a prediction that "capitalism will fail" aren’t exactly the sort of end-of-year messages you’d expect from an eighth grader.

But that’s precisely what some students at the Black Pine Circle School, a private school in Berkeley, Calif., chose to include in their "Class of 2007" mosaic.

The symbols, which are prominently displayed outside the school…….have led critics to say they are blatant proof of political indoctrination of young children.

Black Pine Circle bills itself as a day school where students from kindergarten through eighth grade will be "maximally free of all the ‘isms’ which pervade most aspects of the world around them: from racism to sexism to the less obvious forms of discrimination," …..

Laura Wolff, assistant director and head of BPCS’s Lower School….she was not familiar with the images in question — including the four-tile hammer and sickle depiction — and referred inquiries to John Carlstroem, director of the school, and art teachers Kieren Dutcher and Kim Buckingham. Multiple messages seeking additional comment were not returned.

Danae Condos, president of the Berkeley College Republicans….."I know some people might say it fits in with the Berkeley atmosphere, but it does say something about the type of education the students are receiving," she told FOXNews.com. "It’s obvious that they’re receiving some political indoctrination from the school or from their parents. There’s no doubt in my mind they’re being politically influenced in their education."

Condos, a 19-year-old student at the University of California-Berkeley, said she doubted that school administrators would allow any and all symbols.

"They wouldn’t allow a swastika symbol," she said. "It shows where the school’s standards lie. If you’re seeing this at one of the top-notch schools in the area, imagine what’s going on it other schools that don’t have the same privileges."

So, what do you think?  Appropriate or bad taste?  Is this proof that kids are being told what to believe instead of being taught to think?